One of the hurdles to couponing is changing your mindset about meal planning. Does this sound familiar?: you decide what you want to eat while at work, stop by the closest grocery store on the way home (paying whatever and picking up a bunch of food you don't need because it looks good and you're hungry) and then bemoan your grocery bill every pay period.
One of the secrets to decreasing the amount you spend at the grocery store is basing your meals around what you have on hand already (your stockpile) and with what's on sale that week.
While this specific system may not work for everyone, this is what I do:
First, I check my stockpile. Right now I have an abundance of boneless skinless chicken breast, pasta, brown rice, frozen veggies and hamburger buns (leftover from this weekend's cookout).
Then, I see what's on sale. This week Star Market and Foodland both have ground turkey for $1.99/lb. (my buy price), chicken on sale for $1.99/lb. (my buy price). Starting Wednesday Publix has Taco Bell Dinner kits for $0.85, pasta sauce for $0.93, more free pasta and free noodles.
So, based on what I have on hand and what's on sale I can pick up cheaply I might make spaghetti one night, asian stir fry with the free noodles another night, chicken and rice a third, mexican a fourth and turkey burgers with frozen veggies on the side a fifth. We eat leftovers for lunch and on Sundays after church.
Over time, this process will become much faster (most days I honestly don't decide what we'll eat until about 4:00 before I start cooking dinner at 5:00). (: Having used coupons for over two years now I just cook something based on what I have on hand and pick up the foods that are at their best sale each week that I know we'll use. I rarely (if ever) go to the store to buy something for that evening's meal.
What are your tips for meal planning using your stockpile and sales?
No comments:
Post a Comment